The Department of Philosophy and Faculty of Law Presents

Colloquium Series

Jointly offered with the Colloquium in Legal and Political Philosophy

Frederick Schauer
University of Virginia School of Law

Rightful Deprivations of Rights

Thursday, October 10, 2019

4:00 pm

Watson Hall, Room 517

Is it wrong to deprive someone of a right? Describing rights deprivations as wrongs has a felicitous symmetry, but felicitous turns of phrase often mask deeper issues, and may even be misleading. And so it is with the quick characterization of deprivations of rights as “wrong.” Both positive law and generations of philosophy have recognized that rights, as with duties and obligations, may be overridden. And it follows from the phenomenon of overriding-ness that some deprivations (or restrictions) of rights may be justified, making those deprivations or restrictions not wrong at all, but actually rightful. 

EVERYONE WELCOME 

Accessibility requirements? sheena.wilkinson@queensu.ca